Reflection 6: Naming the Unnamable: encountering the mystery of God
As we journey through Lent, seeking to heal our image of God and name who God truly is for us, we arrive at a moment of profound mystery and revelation.
Throughout history, spiritual seekers, theologians, and mystics have wrestled with the paradox of naming God. We long to call upon the Divine, to name what is Sacred, and to relate personally to the Source of all. Yet, at the same time, God is beyond all names, beyond human language, beyond every concept we try to impose.
How do we speak of the One who is ultimately unnameable?
There is a Tension Between Naming and Mystery…
This tension between the need to name and the reality that God transcends all names appears throughout Scripture:
The Israelites refrained from speaking the sacred name YHWH, replacing it with titles like Adonai (Lord) or HaShem (The Name), acknowledging that God is beyond human articulation.
When Moses encounters God in the burning bush, he asks, “What is your name?” (Exodus 3:13). The response is enigmatic: "I AM THAT I AM."
The Psalms use a vast range of names for God (Rock, Shepherd, Refuge, Light) each capturing an aspect of divine reality but never the fullness.
Jesus calls God "Abba" (Father), revealing intimacy, yet also withdraws into silence before divine mystery.
To name God is to enter into relationship, yet every name remains incomplete.
This is an endless topic, but in my own ever-blossoming journey of naming the unnamable, I want to share two particular insights with you. I hope you’ll find them valuable. More below! 😊
With peaceful love,
Swaady
YHWH
The following is an excerpt from the book The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See by Richard Rohr.
Father Richard Rohr writes: “I cannot emphasize enough the momentous importance of the Jewish revelation of the name of God. It puts the entire nature of our spirituality in correct context and, if it had been followed, could have freed us from much idolatry and arrogance.
As we now spell and pronounce it, the word is Yahweh. For those speaking Hebrew, it was the Sacred Tetragrammaton YHVH (יהוה - yod, he, vav, and he). It was considered a literally unspeakable word for Jews, and any attempt to know what we were talking about was “in vain,” as the commandment said (Exodus 20:7). Instead, they used Elohim or Adonai in speaking or writing.
From God’s side the divine identity was kept mysterious and unavailable to the mind; when Moses asked for the divinity’s name, he got only the phrase that translates something to this effect: “I AM WHO AM.… This is my name forever; this is my title for all generations” (Exodus 3:14–15).
This unspeakability has long been recognized, but we now know it goes even deeper: formally the word was not spoken at all, but breathed!
Many are convinced that its correct pronunciation is an attempt to replicate and imitate the very sound of inhalation and exhalation. The one thing we do every moment of our lives is therefore to speak the name of God. This makes it our first and our last word as we enter and leave the world.
For some years now, I have taught this to contemplative groups in many countries, and it changes peoples’ faith and prayer lives in substantial ways.
I remind people that there is no Islamic, Christian, or Jewish way of breathing. There is no American, African, or Asian way of breathing. There is no rich or poor way of breathing. The playing field is utterly leveled. The air of the earth is one and the same air, and this divine wind “blows where it will” (John 3:8) — which appears to be everywhere. No one and no religion can control this spirit.
When considered in this way, God is suddenly as available and accessible as the very thing we all do constantly — breathe.
Exactly as some teachers of prayer always said, “Stay with the breath, attend to your breath”: the same breath that was breathed into Adam’s nostrils by this Yahweh (Genesis 2:7); the very breath that Jesus handed over with trust on the cross (John 19:30) and then breathed on us as shalom, forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit all at once (John 20:21–23).
And isn’t it wonderful that breath, wind, spirit, and air are precisely nothing — and yet everything?
Just keep breathing consciously in this way and you will know that you are connected to humanity from cavemen to cosmonauts, to the entire animal world, and even to the trees and the plants. And we are now told that the atoms we breathe are physically the same as the stardust from the original Big Bang. Oneness is no longer merely a vague mystical notion, but a scientific fact.”
SPIRITUAL ASSIGNMENT:
Listen to Father Richard Rohr’s teaching on Yahweh: Yahweh - Richard Rohr
“God is not just a being among others but the very act of existence itself.”
I am that I am
“And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.”
In Exodus 3:14, Moses encounters the divine mystery in the burning bush and asks for God’s name. The response he receives is profound and enigmatic:
"I AM THAT I AM."
This is not a name but a revelation. God does not provide a fixed title that could be grasped, controlled, or confined. Instead, God offers a verb: "I AM", a declaration of presence, being, and infinite reality. This self-revelation resists limitation and invites trust.
Rather than being an object among other objects or a deity who can be neatly categorized, God simply is: ever-present, always becoming, beyond all limitations. This name reveals the eternal, unchanging foundation of all reality: the fullness of existence, the source of all being.
A name that invites Trust
For Moses and the Israelites, this encounter with "I AM" was deeply personal. They were about to step into the unknown, leaving behind their past in Egypt and walking into a future that required radical trust. By revealing this name, God was not only declaring divine existence but also offering a relationship, one that unfolds moment by moment.
Unlike gods bound by statues and human-imposed roles, the God of “I AM THAT I AM” is living, dynamic, and free.
The name "I AM" reassures Moses that wherever he goes and whatever challenges arise, God will be present, not as a distant force but as the One who is.
"I AM": Presence, Being, and Becoming
Over time, this passage has been seen as an invitation to release rigid ideas of God and step into direct experience.
Some have noted that God's name is not a noun but a verb, signifying an active, unfolding presence rather than a static definition.
Others have understood it as revealing that God alone is unchanging and eternal, while everything else is fleeting. If God simply is, then all creation exists only by participating in that divine being.
One of my favorite spiritual elders, Meister Eckhart, saw this passage as an invitation to let go of false images of God and awaken to the Divine that is always beyond and yet always near. To name God is to limit God, but to dwell in the mystery of "I AM" is to stand in radical openness before the Presence that cannot be grasped, only received.
"I AM" speaks of presence. God is not distant but here, now, in the unfolding moment of our lives.
"I AM" speaks of being. God is not an abstract concept or remote ruler but the very source and sustainer of existence.
"I AM" speaks of becoming. Just as God is always active and alive, our understanding of God must also expand, evolve, and deepen.
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The original language of "I AM THAT I AM" in the Bible is Hebrew.
In Exodus 3:14, when Moses asks God for a name, God responds with:
אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh).
This phrase is commonly translated as "I AM THAT I AM" or "I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE."
The Hebrew verb אֶהְיֶה (Ehyeh) is a form of הָיָה (hayah), meaning "to be" or "to exist." Because Hebrew does not have a strict present-tense form like English, the phrase carries a sense of ongoing being suggesting eternal existence, self-sufficiency, and dynamic presence.
God then tells Moses: "Say to the Israelites: 'Ehyeh has sent me to you.'" This reveals God's name as a living, active presence rather than a fixed title.
SPIRITUAL ASSIGNMENT: Naming God in Your Journey
As you walk through Lent, consider: how do you name God at this point in your journey? Not in a way that confines or limits, but in a way that reflects your lived experience.
If you are in a season of struggle, perhaps God is "The One Who Strengthens."
If you are rediscovering love, perhaps God is "The One Who Heals."
If you feel uncertain, perhaps God is simply "Here."
The name "I AM" is an invitation. It means God is what you need God to be, not in a way that bends to our desires but in a way that meets us in truth and love. What does "I AM THAT I AM" reveal to you about how God desires to be known in your life? How Is God Naming Godself in Your Life?
So today, as you reflect, ask yourself:
Who is God for me in this moment?
Let the answer arise, not from the mind alone, but from the depths of your heart.
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Listen to Dr. Wayne Dyer’s teaching on “I AM THAT I AM”. Click: Wayne Dyer - "I am that I am"
Listen to Dr. Wayne Dyer’s “I AM THAT” meditation. Click: I am that, Dr Wayne Dyer Meditation
